National Research Highlights

As efforts to breed a blight-resistant American chestnut tree progress, the Forest Service and its partners are researching how to reintroduce the species back into forested settings. Scientists are finding that getting the light right is an important piece of the puzzle.

Dutch elm disease largely eradicated mature elm trees from the eastern U.S. in the 1900s. Forest Service scientists are working to create site-adapted Dutch elm disease tolerant elm trees capable of tolerating the cold winters of the Chippewa National Forest in northern Minnesota.

Over the past several decades, mature American elm trees have virtually disappeared from city streets and eastern forests as a result of Dutch elm disease. Forest Service scientists are on the cusp of developing sufficient genotypes to successfully restore new selections of American elm back to the landscape. Dutch elm disease inoculation trials initiated in Ohio in June 2016 yielded American elm cultivars that exhibit low levels of Dutch elm disease-induced decline one year later.

Forest Service scientists investigate site factors that will boost success rates in hybrid American chestnut plantings in forests. This will help managers select optimal planting sites for chestnut reintroduction on public lands.

Great news for disease-tolerant American elm! A grant from The Manton Foundation has provided the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station with an opportunity to accelerate American elm research in collaboration with Nature Conservancy.

A team of scientists from the Forest Service, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is evaluating the importance of site quality on competitive ability and long-term blight-resistance of hybrid chestnuts. Results from this project in western Pennsylvania will help land managers select chestnut reintroduction sites that increase chances of long-term establishment success.